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Carbon Monoxide Family
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado Date: November 4, 1992 Story In fall 1992, Randy and Johnna Chapman moved to Colorado Springs, full of excitement about their new home and Randy's new job. On November 4, just 6 days after the move, disaster struck. "I work nights, so I had gone to bed earlier in the evening with my son, Brock. My wife and daughter were downstairs playing," Randy said, recounting the events of the evening. "All of a sudden, my wife discovered that my daughter wasn't feeling well." "What's wrong with you?" Johnna asked 2-year-old Megan, who had suddenly lost all her enthusiasm for their game of catch. "Do you want to take a deep breath for Mommy and see if you feel better?" Johnna said, holding Megan in her arms. In response, she simply closed her eyes and went limp. "Megan, Megan," Johnna called to her. "Megan, look at Mommy." There was no reply. "Randy!" Johnna screamed, instantly waking him. He came downstairs and told Johnna to call 911. Fire department dispatcher Marian Druckenmiller took the call. "I have a little girl who's just turned 2," Johnna told her. "I was feeling her forehead and it felt like she had a temperature, like maybe she was coming down with something, like the flu. I gave her two Children's Tylenol and she fell asleep. Now I can't wake her up!" "Ma'am, we have help on the way," said Druckenmiller, reassuringly. "Is she still breathing?" "Yes." "The woman was real upset," Druckenmiller recalled. "She told me that her baby was convulsing and that she was real red. I thought that the baby had a high fever, and that she needed to cool her off." She repeated to Johnna that help was on the way, and told her that she needed to remain calm so she could help Megan. She instructed her to remove Megan's clothes, get a cool, damp rag, and wipe her face. "The whole time that we're doing these things to cool her off, she's still very lifeless, with no response," Randy said. "We had no idea what had happened, because she's been healthy since the day she was born, and all of a sudden she's lying here lifeless in my arms, and I just wanted her back. I didn't want to lose her." "I'm going to get hold of my paramedics who are responding to this call," Druckenmiller said. "They'll be there as soon as possible, but I want you to stay on the line while I talk to them." When she got back on the line to the Chapmans, Randy had taken Johnna's place on the phone. "The paramedics are out in front of your house right now, so I'm going to let you go, and they're going to take real good care of her," she told him. The Colorado Springs Fire Department had the first rescuers on the scene, including firefighter EMT Bud Whidmar, who rang the bell, knocked on the door, and called out to announce their arrival. "Nobody would answer the door," Whidmar said. "We couldn't hear anybody inside, and we kept beating on the door and calling out 'Fire department, fire department.' The longer we waited, the more we were getting concerned that something wasn't right. Then, just about when we were ready to force our entry, the father came to the door with the little girl in his arms. But he wasn't acting right. I asked him what was going on, but he didn't answer. It was as if he was in a stupor. I told my coworker, Brian, 'This has all the signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide. Let's get them out of here, and get them out now.'" Paramedic Brian Moffitt rushed Megan to the waiting medic unit. "Carbon monoxide is oderless, tasteless--it's not something you can detect. It's a very dangerous atmosphere," Moffitt said. "Really, your only treatment is to put the patients on a high flow of oxygen and take them to the hospital." The EMTs began going through the house, looking for victims and opening windows. "This was a very dangerous situation, because carbon monoxide kills within minutes," Whidmar said. "Johnna," Randy called out, trying to locate her. He found her passed out in their bedroom upstairs. "Somebody, help!" he called. "We told him to get out of the house three of four times, but he didn't want to do that," Whidma said. "Then my concern went to the 7-year-old boy. I found him in his bedroom. I checked his breathing, and I couldn't find any breathing. Then I thought that we were really in trouble. When I picked him up, he started breathing on his own. I just grabbed him as fast as I could and ran out." Firefighter EMT Dan Romero went to help Randy with Johnna. "She was totally incoherent and her pulse was rapid," Romero said. "She was very, very close to death." They each took hold of one end of her body and started to carry her down the stairs and out of the house. About halfway down the staircase, Randy collapsed. "Help, I've got two people down here. Help!" Romero called. Three other EMTs rushed to his aid. "A lot of people think that once you get out in the air that you can breathe okay," Whidmar said, "but the monoxide attaches itself to the blood cells. We have to force that carbon monoxide out and replace it with oxygen. We didn't have much time." Johnna, Randy, Megan, and Brock were taken to Memorial Hospital, where they were examined by emergency physician Michael Thompson. "The mother's level on arrival was 41, which means that that 41% of her hemoglobin was saturated with carbon monoxide," Thompson said. "I have actually seen patients die with levels less than 41. The father and son were essentially asymptomatic on arrival, even though they had significantly high carbon monoxide levels." "The doctors explained to me that my wife had the most carbon monoxide in her system," Randy said, "so then my fears switched from my daughter to my wife, and I was very much afraid for her life." "Due to the severity of poisoning of the mother and little Megan, we sent them to the hyperbaric oxygen chamber," Thompson said. "This is a chamber in which we can pressurize 100% oxygen to several atmosphere of pressure, and force carbon monoxide off the hemoglobin." "My wife was lying inside the chamber with her eyes open," Randy said. "When she saw me, she touched the glass, and at that point I thought, 'She looks bad, but she's going to be fine.'" While inside the hyperbaric chamber, Johnna and Megan were treated by Dr. Nathan Brightwell. "People should be aware that carbon monoxide poisoning, in its early stages, can seem very similar to flu-like illnesses," Brightwell said. "The Chapmans are very lucky in that Mrs. Chapman recognized that there was something wrong with Megan and called the paramedics." "The mother and daughter were literally minutes away from death at the time that they were rescued by the paramedics, and the father and son would have followed shortly afterward," said Thompson. Johnna and Megan were released from the hospital on the following day, without any lasting side effects. "You try to take every precaution possible to make sure that your family and your children are safe," Johnna said, "and to have something like this, which you cannot detect, come in and almost wipe your family out, is the scariest thing that ever happened to us. I cannot imagine what would have happened to us that night had we not had 911. I always knew how important it was, but now I know it's a lifesaver." "When I see my kids and family today, sometimes I think of how, in a matter of seconds, one night it could all be taken away," Randy said. "But today, I'm just thankful that we're back to normal and my kids are full of life, just like they used to be." It was discovered that the poisoning occurred because the Chapmans' furnace wasn't properly vented--a telling example of the fact that that home heating systems and fireplaces need to be inspected regularly. "We've had a fresh air return put into the furnace room," Randy said. "We now keep the window open a crack, as we were told to do by the fire department, and we've purchased carbon monoxide monitors." "It was really scary when I woke up in the ambulance, and I thought my sister was going to die," Brock said. "I would have missed having a little sister, because I love her more than anything." A while after their brush with death, the Chapmans had the opportunity to talk with the EMTs who had saved their lives. "It was a real neat feeling to be able to hold the little girl, Megan, to be able to look at her and know that she was not going to suffer any ill effects from this, and that she was going to be able to go on to lead a fulfilled life," Whidmar said. "They acted so wonderfully and so professionally, and yet with such care," Johnna said. "They're just wonderful men, and we really appreciate what they did. What greater gift could anybody get than to have your family given back to you after coming so close to losing all of this?" Category:1992 Category:Colorado Category:Poisonings Category:Gas Leaks